What kind of techniques really help
learners to get better at listening— Nick Edwards

93
discussion series 25—ELT Professionals around the World June 2015

Topic 89

Key Aspects of a Listening
Lesson—David Deubelbeiss

24
active listening February 2014

2.
Speaking

129 Brainstorming October 2015

128 Interview by telephone October 2015

127 Personal interviews—skills October 2015

100 discussion series 32—ELT Resources June 2015

Topic 117

What makes a successful speaker in
English—Nick Edwards

Topic 125

One student asked: I want to speak
English as fluently as native speakers.

Leila boussena

99 discussion series 31—Professional English
Teachers Network June 2015

Topic 98

Tips on how to run on to one
conversation—Said Ibrahim

Topic 103

There are some students who are afraid
to talk in straight English in front of

their classmates. What can be done to
lessen the public speaking anxiety?

Rodel Bryan Valdez

93
discussion series 25—ELT Professionals around the World June
2015

Topic 83

A member said she was looking for ideas
to help her students speak and not clam up in open class.

92 discussion series 24—ELT Professionals
around the World June 2015

Topic 61

How would you test someone’s
interpersonal communication skills? Ferd Roeboom

90 discussion series 22—ELT Professionals
around the World June 2015

Topic 59

When your students ask you, what is the
best way of improving speaking? What are your suggestions? Let me know. –Nzl MT

86
discussion series 18—ELT Professionals around the World June 2015

Topic 55

I am looking for ideas to make
students speak more in open class. My students speak in pair and group work but clam up when I
pose a question to the class. Grateful for all ideas here. Marjorie Rosenberg

29
speech making February 2014

3.
Reading

70 discussion series 02—EFL English as a
foreign language June 2015

Topic 21

There was a request to suggest novels
for students below upper intermediate.

63. speed reading February 2015

50 key to reading comprehension
questions July 2014

49 reading comprehension exercises July 2014

22 re-gifted reading February 2014

4.
Writing

130 Editing October 2015

124 Taking Notes October 2015

99
discussion series 31—Professional English Teachers Network June 2015

Topic 104

What is your best
advice for people trying to improve their writing style?

Tenya Suprykina

Topic 105

Can you suggest me how to write a
recommendation letter in order to

Pursue my Masters abroad. Leone Agnes

98 discussion series 30—Professional English
Teachers Network June
2015

Topic 97

Essay writing: Where is the
flare????—James Donahue

93
discussion series 25—ELT Professionals around the World June 2015

Topic 64

Could you please tell me about the
useful methods of improving students’

writing? How could it be
facilitated? Reza Baharloui

topic 74

Mystery Quiz—Heath Jeffrey

59
Nick Baron of Grammarly—why writing skills matter February 2015

38
summary writing May 2014

31
statement of purpose (SOP) March 2014

25. essay
writingFebruary 2014

Vocabulary

123 Some Idioms October 2015

100 discussion series 32—ELT Resources October 2015

Topic 120

When to use these: ‘since’, ‘for’,
‘as’ and ‘because’?—K R Lakshminarayanan

Topic 121

What is the difference between home
and house?—umesh sharma

What to do if you do not know the
meaning of a word in class?—Nick Edwards

Topic 128

What is the best way to teach
vocabulary?—Nick Edwards

99
discussion series 31—Professional English Teachers Network October 2015

Topic 100

Pick up or fetch?—anjali
chatterji

93
discussion series 25—ELT Professionals around the World June
2015

Topic 78

Words with a story—K R Lakshminarayanan

87
discussion series 19—ELT Professionals around the World June 2015

Topic 56

Can synonyms be substituted for each
other? K R Lakshminarayanan

70
discussion series 02—EFL English as a foreign language June 2015

Topic 29

Collocations—K R Lakshminarayanan

Topic 35

A famous person need not be popular,
need they be? K R Lakshminarayanan

69 discussion series 01—EFL English as
a foreign language June 2015

Due to or owing to—K R
Lakshminarayanan

52
key to vocabulary exercises August 2014

51
vocabulary exercises August 2014

6.
Grammar

121 contronyms October 2015

120 ten rules you can forget October 2015

113 nine corrections that make smart people
look silly September 2015

100 discussion series 32—ELT Resources June 2015

Topic 118

Can’t a verb be used in the plural
after ‘who’?—K R Lakshminarayanan

Topic 119

Can ‘no’,
‘correct’ or ‘right’ be used in place of question tags? K R L

Let us look at simple prepositions:
in, at, on, to , of and for. Is there any text

That defines their usage. How do you
make learners understand their usage? Prof Iyer

Topic 110

Who is/who are—Mansoureh IR

Topic 111

Could anyone explain why these
sentences are ambiguous, please?

1.They are eating apples.

2. The lamb is too hot to eat.

3. What annoys him is being ignored
by his best friend.

4. They are building a small arms
factory.

97 discussion series 29—Professional English
Teachers Network June 2015

Topic 96

I wonder why many teahers use ‘English
teaher’ instead of ‘teacher of English’ or ‘English language teacher’ when
talking about their profession. They confuse profession with nationality.—Jessica Hermosilla Magaña

96
discussion series 28—ELT Professionals around the World June 2015

Topic 95

What common ‘mistakes’ do native speakers make?—David Dubelbeiss

95 discussion series 27—ELT Professionals
around the World June
2015

Topic 94

Lack of an important wh question in
English—Naghizade Mohammad

93
discussion series 25—ELT Professionals around the World June 2015

Topic 71

As a result, consequently hence; The
meanings of these linkers seem to be same,

Can they be substitute each other…?
Mehmet Deniz

Topic 72

Error correction: Does it help? Thomas Keller

Topic 75

Is this sentence correct? The team
whom Mrs perea guided performed well at the debate.--Kumari Amaradasa

Topic 79

Use of will in
first person interrogation—K R Lakshminarayanan

Topic 80

Can ‘no’, ‘correct’ or ‘right’ be
used in place of question tags? KR Lakshminarayanan

Topic 84

How good is your grammar? Quiz—Angus
Proctor

Topic 88

If there are rules in English grammar
then why exceptions? Bb Spoghmay

Topic 90

Usage in structuring Here are some
sentences I’ve copied from novels; I believe they are American rather than British—K R
Lakshminarayanan

Topic 91

I stumbled upon this: use a or an in
front of a countable noun. Use any in questions. So how come it is better to say: ‘Is there
a dog in the garden?” ?—Agnes Glenn

83
discussion series 15—ELT Professionals around the World June 2015

Topic 52

Horse around

Now the time of using horse around
to mean wasting time, I believe, has been finished we had better use ‘driving around’
to mean such a thing nowadays horsing around is a great pleasure or exultation. Naghizade Mohammad

82
discussion series 14—ELT Professionals around the World June 2015

Topic 51

When do we use the second verb as
‘-ing’ and ‘to-infinitive’? K R
Lakshminarayanan

81
discussion series 13—ELT Professionals around the World June 2015

Topic 50

What is the best WAY to EXPLAIN the
difference between ‘present perfect’ and ‘present perfect continuous’? Saeid Noorbar

80
discussion series 12—ELT Professionals around the World June 2015

Topic 49

Which is correct? There IS a book, a
pen and a rubber on the desk? Or There ARE a book, a pen and a
rubber on the desk? Irina-Critina

78 discussion series 10—ELT Professionals
around the World June 2015

Topic 47

Can we use a possessive with non-living
objects-eg. Table’s legs?

Dr Aniruddha Burmon

77
discussion series 09—ELT Professionals around the World June 2015

Topic 46

The death of the past participle—David
Deubelbeiss

72
discussion series 04—ELT Professionals around the World June 2015

Anyone come across a rule for when
to use Verb+infi. Vs verb+participle?

Ferd Roseboom

71
discussion series 03—ELT Professionals around the World June 2015

Topic 40

Learning phrasal verbs are difficult
for learners of English. Are there any effective ways for them to teach except for
memorization? Mehmet Deniz

70
discussion series 02—EFL English as a foreign language June 2015

topic 22

What’s the difference: Tell me, You
tell me—Alexander Tsmokalyuk

Topic 23

Little confused with
this question: “What are your parents hoping you to do for them?

How this question can
be answered? Stephen George Jacob

Topic 25

There was a discussion
thread asking for the common mistakes among EFL students.

Topic 28

Telling time—Mansoureh IR

Topic 30

Words as both count and noncount
nouns—K R Lakshminarayanan

Topic 32

Possessive ‘s (Again?)

Omar Sattar

Topic 33

Grammar question—Clayton Ive

I have been thinking about how to
phrase something and it always feels awkward…

My partner and I work together on a
project and when I try refer to it using the

About Me

I hail from Thamizh Nadu, a Southern state of India. I speak Thamizh, Thelugu, English and Hindi.

I served for 43 years as a teacher of English in schools and colleges in India, Ethiopia and Nigeria. I've published several articles on ELT and of general interest in the USA, Ethiopia and India. I've presented several papers in national and international conferences. I've written several course books for the English syllabuses of Bachelor of Engineering of Madras University, Anna University and JNTU, Hyderabad, for public consumption as well.